Driving fatigue: Spending more than two hours a day behind the wheel can reduce your IQ

Researchers studying how sedentary behaviour affects brainpower found IQ scores fell faster in middle-aged people who drove long distances daily.Driving for over two hours a day steadily reduces intelligence, a new study suggests.

Researchers investigating how sedentary behaviour affects brainpower found IQ scores fell faster in middleaged people who drove long distances every day.

Kishan Bakrania, a medical epidemiologist at the University of Leicester, UK, told `The Sunday Times': “We know that regularly driving for over two to three hours a day is bad for your heart.“This research suggests it is bad for your brain, too, perhaps because your mind is less active in those hours.“

The researchers analysed the lifestyles of more than 500,000 Britons aged between 37 and 73 over five years, during which they took intelligence and memory tests.

The 93,000 people who drove more than two to three hours a day typically had lower brainpower at the start of the study , which kept on declining throughout, at a faster rate than those who did little or no driving.

A similar result was found for those watching TV for over three hours a day -they also had lower average brainpower at the start of the study that fell faster over the next five years.

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In 2018, automobile demand remained robust despite the slowdown overcast in the last three months of year. All segments reported strong double-digit growth in the calendar year ending December 31 except passenger vehicles which reported a growth of 5 per cent. Three-wheelers sales grew fastest followed by commercial vehicles, two-wheelers, and passenger vehicles. The overall automobile sales crossed 26.7 million units for the first time.

In 2018, automobile demand remained robust despite the slowdown overcast in the last three months of year. All segments reported strong double-digit growth in the calendar year ending December 31 except passenger vehicles which reported a growth of 5 per cent. Three-wheelers sales grew fastest followed by commercial vehicles, two-wheelers, and passenger vehicles. The overall automobile sales crossed 26.7 million units for the first time.